Imagine being only 17 with zero experience in F1 and getting a chance to step into Lewis Hamilton‘s shoes! This is exactly what awaits Kimi Antonelli if Toto Wolff takes the massive decision to welcome the Italian F2 racer as his recruit for 2025. Antonelli has already had wild success in all the junior leagues, and his talent captured Wolff’s attention in 2019. Since then, Kimi Antonelli has been a part of the Mercedes Junior Team, preparing for a grand F1 entry. However, Toto had never imagined that this prodigy would have such an abrupt F1 debut since Lewis Hamilton had a contract in place with the Silver Arrows for next year.

However, Hamilton activated the exit clause in his Mercedes deal as Ferrari offered him a yearly salary of $100 million. Choosing the Maranello outfit, the seven-time World Champion declared his decision to switch teams in early 2024. With this shocking news, Toto Wolff started looking for replacements for Hamilton, and Kimi Antonelli has topped that list. So, if Kimi bags the Mercedes contract, he will drive for the team. Lewis Hamilton has won six World Championship titles. And on top of that, he will have Hamilton’s race engineer, Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington, to help him. This is now official news, as Bono has signed a contract to extend his stay at Mercedes.

Bono and Lewis have been thick as thieves through all the years, ever since the Briton’s debut with Mercedes. Before working as the 39-year-old’s race engineer, Peter Bonnington worked with Michael Schumacher. Thus, the Briton has seen and met with his fair share of F1 World Champions, and now he will get to the job of making Kimi Antonelli into one as well. Since their bond is so strong, Hamilton must have attempted to take Bono with him to Ferrari. However, those efforts seem to have been futile, as Peter Bonnington has signed up to become Mercedes’ new Head of Race Engineering.

Since Bono will stay back at Mercedes, he will see off Lewis Hamilton by breaking a 12-year-long bond with the Stevenage native. But what did Lewis once say about Bono that shows how close the two are?

Lewis Hamilton once professed his “love” for Peter Bonnington

Lewis Hamilton entered Mercedes as a replacement for Michael Schumacher in 2014. Right from the start, Peter Bonnington stayed by his side as a formidable force, and his advice over the team radio did wonders for Lewis at the races. With Bono by his side, Hamilton even stepped up onto the top step of the podium at this year’s British GP to claim his 104th F1 race win. Since the two have stuck closely together all through these years, Lewis commented about Bono, saying, “Bono and I, we’ve been through thick and thin together, and I love the guy. We’ve had such a great relationship.”

Bono has become such an icon for all of Lewis Hamilton’s followers that his famous phrases like “Get in their Lewis” and “Hammertime” have their own fanbase now. The soon-to-be Scuderia racer also said, “I think we [Lewis and Bono] have the longest-standing engineer and driver relationship that’s ever been in our sport. And that’s something I’m really proud of.”

However, as all good things come to an end, Lewis Hamilton and Peter Bonnington will part ways at the end of this year. Meanwhile, the promotion for Bono will wait until Lewis finishes his 2024 championship run. As the pair is nearing the last 11 Grand Prix where they will work together, do you think Lewis and Bono will win some more races?